Chapter 5
Sara ran to the fallen figure lying before her. His diminutive shape stirred slightly as she
approached.
"Hoggel?! Is that you? Are you alright?" She cried leaning down to see if he was injured.
"Sara?" he says unsteadily. "How..how did you get back here? You shouldn't have come Sara."
He says and shakes his head as he tries to sit up. She quickly helped him.
"What has happened? Where is everyone?"
"Cor, I don't know. The goblins started attacking all creatures in the labyrinth, even
themselves. One minute it was just an average day in the labyrinth and then chaos. I got
attacked by three of them a few minutes before you got here."
"How could Jareth let this happen? I mean they are his people after all shouldn't he be
governing them?" She said in dismay.
"From I what I heard, he's missing. He came up missing a few hours after all this started."
"How long has it been like this?"
"Time don't mean much in the labyrinth you know, but if I had to guess I'd say nearly half a
year."
"Half a year!"
"Yea, it's just been getting worse and worse. The whole labyrinth is falling apart with out
Jareth. It's his magic that keeps everything together, you know."
"What have you been doing all this time? Have you tried to find him?"
"Sara I told you before I'm nothing but a coward and if something is strong enough to defeat
Jareth then I don't want to mess with them. Mostly I've been hiding. I know a lot of passages
that not many others know about."
"I have to find out what's going on. Hoggel will you help me get to the castle?"
"Oh cor, not again," he said and looked around. "Ok but we better hurry you don't want to be
out here when night falls."
"Night? I was here for 13 hours last time and there was never night."
"That's because Jareth rearranged time for you. Night comes soon and with everything in chaos
you don't want to be out wandering around. There are worse things then goblins in the labyrinth
now. Evil just seems to be attracted here as of lately." Hoggel limps his way to the center of
a path and pulls out a handle from his pouch. He quickly attaches it to the ground and pulls
up revealing a door.
Sara hurries after him. "Where are we?" she asks when she reaches the bottom of the ladder.
"These catacombs connect almost all the oblates in the labyrinth. It's even more confusing then
the labyrinth it's self, but I know my way around so we should be safer."
They walk onward in silence. Sara looks at the broken faces of the false alarms that have now
gone silent. It was rather eerie. In the distance they heard a faint scratching of claws
against the floor.
"Umm that could be a rat...right?" Sara said.
"Could be but I doubt it is. Let's hurry." Hoggel said walking even faster even though his
ankle obviously pained him. The sound of claws came faster as they hurried on. They rounded
a corner and Hoggel came to a complete stop.
"Oh no." He said as they stood facing a dead end. The passage before them had collapsed into
a pile of rubble that they could not get around.
Hoggel turns to her "We're gonna have to back track there's no other way through."
"We can't go back though we don't even know what's following us." Sara sighs and kicks the wall
beside her in frustration.
"What was that?" Hoggel asks."
"What? It was me kicking the wall."
"No, kick it again." She did and this time she noticed an unmistakable hollow sound.
"There must be a door here. I never knew about that." He says in wonder. He searches around
and pulls some of the smaller rocks out of the way and clears off an old wooden door. "Funny
it looks like I would have noticed this before." He puts it on the wall and opens it. The noise
is almost right behind them now and they hurry to the next room and Hoggel removes the door.
"There even if something was following us it can't get though now."
They walk into the dark room.
"Is this one of the Oblates?" Sara asks.
"It must be now if I can just find a light." They hear a light moaning sound from the corner.
"Is someone there." Sara calls out squinting in the direction of the noise. "Hurry and find a
light, I can't see a thing. Is someone there?"
"H..hello" A weak voice replies.
That voice sounds familiar...could it be? She didn't have time to finish her thought when the
sound of a match striking brought the room into a bright focus for her. Sitting against the
wall was the last person she expected to see.
The person looks up at the two of them and says. "Do I know you?"
Authors note: yes cliff hangers are evil aren't they *evil laughter* muahhahahahhaha.
hope ya'll like it so far :)
Sara ran to the fallen figure lying before her. His diminutive shape stirred slightly as she
approached.
"Hoggel?! Is that you? Are you alright?" She cried leaning down to see if he was injured.
"Sara?" he says unsteadily. "How..how did you get back here? You shouldn't have come Sara."
He says and shakes his head as he tries to sit up. She quickly helped him.
"What has happened? Where is everyone?"
"Cor, I don't know. The goblins started attacking all creatures in the labyrinth, even
themselves. One minute it was just an average day in the labyrinth and then chaos. I got
attacked by three of them a few minutes before you got here."
"How could Jareth let this happen? I mean they are his people after all shouldn't he be
governing them?" She said in dismay.
"From I what I heard, he's missing. He came up missing a few hours after all this started."
"How long has it been like this?"
"Time don't mean much in the labyrinth you know, but if I had to guess I'd say nearly half a
year."
"Half a year!"
"Yea, it's just been getting worse and worse. The whole labyrinth is falling apart with out
Jareth. It's his magic that keeps everything together, you know."
"What have you been doing all this time? Have you tried to find him?"
"Sara I told you before I'm nothing but a coward and if something is strong enough to defeat
Jareth then I don't want to mess with them. Mostly I've been hiding. I know a lot of passages
that not many others know about."
"I have to find out what's going on. Hoggel will you help me get to the castle?"
"Oh cor, not again," he said and looked around. "Ok but we better hurry you don't want to be
out here when night falls."
"Night? I was here for 13 hours last time and there was never night."
"That's because Jareth rearranged time for you. Night comes soon and with everything in chaos
you don't want to be out wandering around. There are worse things then goblins in the labyrinth
now. Evil just seems to be attracted here as of lately." Hoggel limps his way to the center of
a path and pulls out a handle from his pouch. He quickly attaches it to the ground and pulls
up revealing a door.
Sara hurries after him. "Where are we?" she asks when she reaches the bottom of the ladder.
"These catacombs connect almost all the oblates in the labyrinth. It's even more confusing then
the labyrinth it's self, but I know my way around so we should be safer."
They walk onward in silence. Sara looks at the broken faces of the false alarms that have now
gone silent. It was rather eerie. In the distance they heard a faint scratching of claws
against the floor.
"Umm that could be a rat...right?" Sara said.
"Could be but I doubt it is. Let's hurry." Hoggel said walking even faster even though his
ankle obviously pained him. The sound of claws came faster as they hurried on. They rounded
a corner and Hoggel came to a complete stop.
"Oh no." He said as they stood facing a dead end. The passage before them had collapsed into
a pile of rubble that they could not get around.
Hoggel turns to her "We're gonna have to back track there's no other way through."
"We can't go back though we don't even know what's following us." Sara sighs and kicks the wall
beside her in frustration.
"What was that?" Hoggel asks."
"What? It was me kicking the wall."
"No, kick it again." She did and this time she noticed an unmistakable hollow sound.
"There must be a door here. I never knew about that." He says in wonder. He searches around
and pulls some of the smaller rocks out of the way and clears off an old wooden door. "Funny
it looks like I would have noticed this before." He puts it on the wall and opens it. The noise
is almost right behind them now and they hurry to the next room and Hoggel removes the door.
"There even if something was following us it can't get though now."
They walk into the dark room.
"Is this one of the Oblates?" Sara asks.
"It must be now if I can just find a light." They hear a light moaning sound from the corner.
"Is someone there." Sara calls out squinting in the direction of the noise. "Hurry and find a
light, I can't see a thing. Is someone there?"
"H..hello" A weak voice replies.
That voice sounds familiar...could it be? She didn't have time to finish her thought when the
sound of a match striking brought the room into a bright focus for her. Sitting against the
wall was the last person she expected to see.
The person looks up at the two of them and says. "Do I know you?"
Authors note: yes cliff hangers are evil aren't they *evil laughter* muahhahahahhaha.
hope ya'll like it so far :)